Archive for category: Hunger

Hunger in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

hunger in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Despite recent economic growth, millions of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) experience severe malnutrition, chronic food insecurity and inadequate housing.

Following the 2009 global economic slump, the DRC has performed at an exceptional rate compared to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. During 2010-2014, the country posted an average GDP growth rate of 7.7 percent.

The impressive economic output is ascribed to a robust export-based economy, along with renewed public investment from domestic and international sources.

Although the DRC has reduced poverty by eight percent since 2005, it is still marked as one of the poorest and most poverty-stricken countries in the globe.

The acute conditions are attributed to a legacy of political upheaval, economic mismanagement and localized conflict since independence in the 1960s.

Resources that should have provided the solution to hunger in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were misappropriated during the period from 1965-1997 under Joseph Mobutu Sese Seko. Furthermore, nutritional crises were not prioritized as the Second Congo War consumed the country.

Consequently, hunger in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has festered to a critical rate. Nearly half of the country’s children under five are stunted; 3 million children under five years of age suffer from acute malnutrition and 47 percent of children under the age of five and 38 percent of women suffer from anemia.

Since 2010, the World Bank has collaborated with the DRC government to implement economic reform, which includes increased transparency measures through the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

Reforms also aim to reduce hunger in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by increasing its capacity to effectively disperse the most basic of provisional goods — water and food.

Although the economic improvements bring a renewed sense of hope, it is unlikely that the acute issue of malnutrition will be resolved until the systemic failures of Congolese security are addressed.

About 70 million hectares of arable land is besieged by conflict. Making an earnest effort to resolve hunger in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is at best bleak without an equally serious effort to remove conflict from the country.

– Adam George

Photo: Flickr

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Aquaculture in Bangladesh: Using Seafood to Overcome Hunger

Aquaculture in Bangladesh: Using Seafood as a Means to Overcome Hunger
Bangladesh has maintained its status as one of the most populous countries in the world. Despite its dense population, the country has experienced a reduction in population growth rates in recent years. This population decrease can be linked with ameliorated education facilities and improved health care provision.

According to statistics released by the World Bank, extreme poverty rates in Bangladesh have shown an impressive decrease from 18 percent in 2009-2010 to 12.9 percent in 2015-2016.

With its close proximity to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has a robust supply of water and other aquatic produce such as seafood. Fish is touted as one of the most popular food sources in Bangladesh. Fish is particularly valued for its nutritional content, including a good supply of essential fatty acids and protein.

Fish also contain zinc, which facilitates normal development in children, and iron, which plays a role in the development of the brain. It is estimated that approximately 60 percent of Bangladesh’s population consumes fish almost every other day.

Recently, revolutionary research revealed that a balanced combination of agriculture and aquaculture in Bangladesh may help palliate hunger. This combination achieves a reduction in hunger by producing both rice and fish, the two most popular foods in Bangladesh, in large quantities.

Malnutrition rates in Bangladesh are very high, with approximately 54 percent of preschool-age children suffering from stunted development and 56 percent belonging to the underweight category. Micronutrient deficiencies are also particularly rife in the country, with zinc and iron being among the most common minerals excluded from the diet.

Aquaculture in Bangladesh, which involves increasing the productivity of fish suppliers, addresses the issue of malnutrition effectively. Techniques to increase fish supply include increasing food availability for fish, application of fertilizers and creation of local ponds to culture fish in a carefully controlled environment. Another simple yet effective strategy involves “stocking” fish for future use, allowing fertilization to occur and then harvesting the resultant stock.

Nonprofit organizations such as WorldFish, an organization focused on aquaculture, support research and development in the field of aquaculture to improve techniques for fishing. Sustainability is also an important factor to preclude the possibility of extinction of fish species and ensure that the population is assured of constant food supply.

Aquaculture in Bangladesh not only addresses the rampant issue of malnutrition in the country, but it also provides a steady source of income in the form of export earnings. It is estimated that Bangladesh earned approximately $547.28 million from the export of fish and similar products. These earnings can be utilized for the benefit of the country by setting up feeding campaigns in school and providing information about the importance of proper nutrition.

– Tanvi Ambulkar

Photo: Flickr

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Fighting Hunger in Asia Through Female Empowerment

Hunger in Asia
According to UNICEF, “In 2015, more than half of all stunted children under five lived in Asia.” Further, the organization notes that the wasting rate in Southern Asia is close to being “a critical public health emergency.” In light of these concerning statistics, research has illuminated how an interdisciplinary female-focused approach to fighting hunger in Asia is the key to success for both child nutrition and the overall health of the community.

Gender inequality is more prevalent in South Asia than other parts of the continent, with a gender inequality index measuring .0536. This is on a scale from 0 being completely equal to 1 being not equal — the ratings in Singapore and The Republic of Korea are 0.088 and 0.125 respectively. Data suggests that improvements in women’s equality may hold the key to reducing South Asia’s current child undernutrition rate of 36%.

Groundbreaking research carried out in 1998 by the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C., showed that gender inequality plays a large role in malnutrition.

While analyzing global data, the authors Smith and Haddad showed that improvement in women’s status and improvement in women’s enrollment in secondary education was responsible for over half of the reductions in child malnutrition.

Other major factors, such as food availability and improvements in a health environment, contributed to only 26% and 19% of the malnutrition reductions, respectively.

Further publications such as the World Bank Global Monitoring Report of 2007 highlight how creating diverse opportunities for women can directly combat hunger in Asia. Education benefits child nutrition by increasing access to information for expectant and current mothers and child malnutrition decreases when women have more control of the household’s resources.

Nutrition is not only important for child growth but is also an investment in preventative health. The danger of not supporting female-focused initiatives is potent, due to the foundational importance of nutrition on well-being.

Over 5 million individuals are currently living with HIV in Asia, according to UNAIDS, with 19,000 new infections in children in 2015 alone. In malnourished patients, HIV quickly progresses toward AIDS due to the immune system’s lack of essential nutrients.

Other opportunistic infections, such as tuberculosis, which is present in its “latent” non-active form in one-third of the world’s population, can then thrive in the absence of a functional immune system and can threaten entire communities.

However, focused efforts are being made to improve nutrition with an interdisciplinary approach. CARE International, a U.K. based company, sponsored the Shouhardo Project in Bangladesh to fight child malnutrition through women’s empowerment.

By implementing community initiatives to confront early marriage, prevent violence against women, give more power to women in business transactions and have more political power in the local sphere, outcomes changed.

Before the project began, less than 25% of women reported being involved in decisions to buy or sell family assets, or use savings. At the end of the study period, almost 50% of women were included in such decisions. As a result, the data collected showed a 30% drop in child stunting.

More initiatives in Asia are focusing on women’s role in child well-being, such as the Every Woman Every Child movement, which recently launched a campaign to use mobile phones to educate women on nutrition for their children in India.

India’s Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) has partnered with the Food and Agriculture organization of the U.N. to boost economic opportunities for women in rural areas, with the direct goal of fighting nutrition through such avenues.

These programs are evidence of why female leadership is so important, especially in an area where gender inequality is prominent. As such initiatives develop and are supported, communities will see unprecedented gains in the fight against hunger.

– Patrick Tolosky
Photo: Flickr

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Five Facts About Hunger in Syria

Hunger in Syria
After six years of continuous conflict and civil war, hunger in Syria has become a major crisis. Providing the necessary food aid for Syrians has become increasingly difficult as the danger escalates and the number of refugees multiplies.

Over 11 million Syrians have fled their homes to other Syrian cities or neighboring countries in search of safety. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are over 4.8 million registered Syrian refugees. As the conflict continues, the issue of hunger in Syria intensifies. Despite these difficulties, international organizations are doing everything they can to help Syrians in need. Here are five facts about the triumphs and challenges of hunger in Syria:

  1. According to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, 8.7 million people in Syria are food insecure.
    Food insecurity refers to the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient amount of affordable and nutritious food. Soaring food prices have only exacerbated the situation. Prices for bread, the cornerstone of the Syrian diet, have increased by more than 100% since 2014.
  2. The ShareTheMeal app has helped feed nearly 25,000 Syrians over the past year.
    The ShareTheMeal app allows participants to donate just $0.50 in order to feed a child for an entire day. Since November 2015, ShareTheMeal has provided Syrian refugee children and mothers with food support for an entire year.
  3. Food production in Syria has dropped by 40% since 2010.
    Nearly half of Syria’s population lives in rural regions. The war has destroyed agricultural infrastructure and irrigation systems, which has, in turn, decreased production. Wheat, in particular, has suffered dramatically from both the conflict and low rainfall.
  4. The World Food Program (WFP) is providing 240,000 Syrian children with nutrient supplements to prevent malnutrition.
    Child malnutrition can lead to stunting, disease and even death. In order to prevent undernutrition, WFP provides ready-to-eat, specialized nutritional products to thousands of Syrian children under the age of 5.
  5. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) has distributed food parcels to over 2.5 million people.
    SARC is one of the only organizations working in the entirety of Syria to provide humanitarian aid. Every month, SARC distributes food parcels and health care items to over three million people in need.

Although it will take $86.5 million this year to assist the nearly three million people in need who remain in the country, hunger in Syria can be diminished. WFP, UNHCR and their partners have taken great strides to accomplish this goal. With an increase in the International Affairs budget, the U.S. can also help save the lives of millions of Syrians suffering from hunger.

– Kristyn Rohrer

Photo: Flickr

Zero Hunger in Bhutan

Zero Hunger in Bhutan
Bhutan, a small agricultural country in the eastern Himalayas between India and China, has come a long way in its war on poverty as the country has halved its poverty rates — from 23.4 percent to 12.04 percent in five years.

The launching of a five-year program in 1961 and the establishment of a national airline in 1983 spurred economic development, ensured equitability and environmental sustainability for the country; however, research on the health and nutritional status of Bhutanese children is lacking.

A substantial amount of work needs to be done to target malnutrition and hunger in Bhutan, especially among young and school-aged children.

UNICEF Regional Goodwill Ambassador and Bollywood actor Aamir Khan notes, “While Bhutan has made amazing progress in areas of health and nutrition, there’s still work to be done and every child is yet to be reached.”

Moreover, according to a report by BMC Pediatrics, 47.7 percent of young children at the age of six to 59 months are stunted, 34.9 percent of preschool children are facing malnutrition and 10.4 percent are underweight.

These rates of stunting require significant attention in Bhutan’s efforts in alleviating poverty, as malnutrition at an early age can lead to many functional consequences including poor cognition and educational performance, low adult wages and loss of productivity. These consequences also affect and slow down the development of the nation’s economic infrastructure in the future.

As a member of the U.N., Bhutan has agreed to the Sustainable Development Goals in which Goal Two strives to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.” By 2030, there are hopes that there will be zero malnutrition and hunger in Bhutan.

Moreover, the World Food Program (WFP) is working to combat child malnutrition by encouraging school enrollment and attendance through a development project called “Improving Rural Children’s Access to Basic Education with a Focus on Primary Education.”

The WFP provides school meals to children to combat child malnutrition and encourage school enrollment and attendance, supporting the country’s development plan to reduce poverty. This initiative will also help relieve the financial burden on poor rural parents.

WFP Bhutan encourages teaching various methods to students to break the inter-generational cycle of malnutrition. This is accomplished by training teachers at the College of Natural Resources (CNR) for agriculture and nutrition coupled with the School Agriculture Program (SAP).

Piet Vochten, the head of WFP in Bhutan explained, “We want to educate every child on agriculture and nutrition so that they are able to grow into healthy adults who will have healthy and well-nourished children to break the inter-generational cycle of hunger and poverty.”

Although Bhutan has made drastic improvements in its poverty rates over the last few decades, malnutrition and hunger in Bhutan must be addressed in order to secure the progression and growth of the economy.

– Priscilla Son

Photo: Flickr

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Addressing Hunger in Hong Kong by Reducing Waste

Hunger in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s growth in the global financial economy has made the country a beacon of rapid development and opulence. Behind the image of luxurious expansion lurks a harsh reality of inequality and growing rates of hunger. A Hong Kong nonprofit aims to help the city’s bounty feed all.

As a major port city and a booming hub of global trade, Hong Kong’s GDP continues to grow. Trading Economics’ data indicates that Hong Kong’s GDP growth in 2016 has nearly doubled since its GDP growth in 2015. This wealth, however, is distributed disproportionately.

The CIA World Factbook designates Hong Kong’s level of income inequality as the tenth worst in the world, and the U.N. Development Program claims Hong Kong has the highest level of income inequality among highly developed nations.

Data on poverty and hunger illuminate these inequities. According to Trading Economics, the poverty line in Hong Kong is HK$ 3,275 per month (about $422) with an hourly minimum wage of HK$ 32 (roughly $4). Twenty percent of Hong Kong’s population currently lives below this threshold, leaving many citizens food insecure.

In light of these concerns, the South China Morning Post reported that the U.N. considered opening a World Food Program (WFP) office in Hong Kong in 2013, citing the region as an appropriate candidate for further attention.

However, the U.N. never established an office, leaving Hong Kong without a concrete inter-governmental organization to deal with the growing issue of food insecurity. Gabrielle Kirstein, co-founder and executive director of Feeding Hong Kong, aimed to address hunger in Hong Kong by creating a nonprofit that would divert food waste to feed those in need.

Feeding Hong Kong (FHK) is a self-proclaimed “Hong Kong food bank with a difference.” By accepting usable food donations from corporate partners, restaurants, grocery stores and delis, FHK creates a supply chain that directs surplus food into the hands of over 25 charities and community organizations that address poverty and hunger. It is the only nonprofit of its kind in Hong Kong.

To ensure the continued effectiveness of the program, FHK thoughtfully distributes the food it collects to its constituent organizations. For example, FHK deliberately addresses the needs of children’s welfare programs differently than those of adults. FHK aims to address hunger in Hong Kong by supporting these already established organizations in their endeavors to provide essential services.

FHK functions in a dense urban environment by harnessing the resources around it. For FHK’s annual event, “Chefs in the Community,” culinary professionals volunteer with local charities to improve their food services. The Feeding Hong Kong Cookbook Collection is sold to generate funds for the nonprofit, while spreading awareness of how to reduce food waste, even in a personal kitchen setting.

Despite growing rates of hunger in Hong Kong, FHK has established a network to solve several issues associated with rapid urban development. By creating an organization that supports those around it, FHK aims to spread the wealth of the nation by eradicating hunger, one meal at a time.

– Laurel Klafehn

Photo: Flickr

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WFP ShareTheMeal App Supports Food Relief in Malawi

ShareTheMeal
The World Food Program (WFP) is the world’s largest organization dedicated to fighting hunger and promoting food security. As a branch of the U.N. the WFP is funded solely through voluntary donations which allow the organization to reach around 80 million people annually in 80 countries.

Though the WFP has a strong impact on the battle against world hunger, over 795 million people remain undernourished globally. Often people in developing countries become undernourished when faced with external factors like natural disasters or political instability. These factors can cause entire communities to lose access to necessities like food and water.

Currently, southern Africa is experiencing drought due to the year’s El Nino weather pattern — it is believed that Malawi was hit the hardest of the countries affected. The drought coupled with severe flash floods has devastated the country’s crops.

Up to 40 percent of the population of Malawi may need emergency assistance. In an attempt to provide food relief to vulnerable populations like those in Malawi, the WFP created an app called ShareTheMeal.

ShareTheMeal allows users to help those in need with the touch of a button. By choosing to share a meal, users donate 50 cents, the cost to feed one child for one day, to school children in Malawi. Of course, more than one meal can be donated at a time, but allowing users to donate as little as 50 cents makes food relief an affordable act for all.

At this time, WFP is focusing ShareTheMeal towards food relief in Malawi, but the app has been used to help several other vulnerable communities since its inception in the summer of 2015. In fact, the ShareTheMeal website states that donations on the app have provided over 7.5 million meals to those in need.

Recently, between June and July of 2016, all donations on the app went to feeding Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. The donations from those two months were enough to provide one year worth of food to 1,500 children.

While these numbers may seem impressive, the WFP is setting the bar even higher for relief in Malawi. Through ShareTheMeal, the WFP’s goal is to provide 58,000 school children with food for an entire year. If the goal is reached, those 58,000 children will have better chances of staying in school and learning the essential skills that could one day lift them out of poverty.

– Weston Northrop

Photo: Flickr

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Small Island, Big Appetite: Seven Facts About Hunger in Japan

Hunger in Japan
While Japan enjoys one of the largest economies in the world after the U.S. and China, hunger in Japan is an undeniable threat to one of the most highly developed nations. Here are the top seven facts you should know about the imminent food crisis of the most populous island nation:

  1. Nearly 16 percent of two-parent Japanese families are financially unable to provide enough food for their children — this figure jumps to 32 percent among single-parent households.
    As a leader in child nutrition programs, Japan is tackling food insecurity by improving its meal programs for children who live in food-insecure households.
    Non-profit organizations such as Second Harvest Japan help fight hunger in Japan by serving 100 families, 75 percent of which are single mothers, with weekly or monthly food shipments.
  2. Japan relies heavily on food imports.
    Producing only 39 percent of the country’s food demand, Japan currently has the lowest food self-sufficiency ratio among all major developed countries, compared to Britain producing 70 percent and France producing 120 percent of what each country consumes respectively.
    Reliance on food imports puts Japan’s meager food supply in a vulnerable position as hunger worsens.
  3. Japan’s traditionally pescetarian diet has embraced the high protein and high fat “Western diet” which has spiked demand for imported food — especially beef.
    From living off of what the local marine life offers, Japan is now the largest meat importer in the world. Not only is Japan’s food supply more fragile because it relies on imports, but studies also show that global meat production has severe environmental consequences.
    Even if Japan began domestically producing meat, Japan would need to devote 50 percent of its arable land to meet the demand for just chicken and pork.
  4. Current overpopulation and fears of future underpopulation are complicating Japan’s hunger crisis.
    Tokyo alone boasts nearly 14 million residents, making it the most populous city in the world. However, Japan’s population has shrunk by 1 million in the past five years and is aging quickly.
    As the population ages and low fertility rates prevail, Japan’s economy is expected to shrink and projected to have fewer farmers and fewer people to pay for food imports.
  5. Japan’s agricultural sector has shrunk to one percent of its GDP.
    In the wake of Japan’s industry and tourism boom, farmers found that they could make more profit selling their land or renting it rather than cultivating it.
    The agricultural shift to a more industrial focus is the primary culprit to blame for Japan’s food insecurity.
  6. Hunger in Japan is driving the country to set its sights on developing arable African land.
    Instead of focusing on domestic efforts to prevent further food insecurity, Japan is helping Mozambique and other developing regions of Africa to become future exporters for Japan’s food demand.
    Japan’s ProSavana project has been criticized as a “neo-colonialist economic exploitation” that is sold to Mozambique and the international community as sustainable agricultural development, according to the Journal of Global Initiatives.
    The UNAC President Augusto Mafigo voiced his concerns for the possible consequences of the ProSavana project: “We are extremely frustrated that the ProSavana program is not designed for the weak. It is designed for facilitating companies to acquire land. If that really happens, that would destroy our community.”
  7. Japan Today reports that annual food waste in Japan amounts to as much as 18 million tons.
    A projected 5-8 million tons of wasted food is actually edible but is discarded because of small blemishes or visual imperfections. If Japan would take a cue from France, who recently made it illegal for supermarkets to waste edible food, the amount of edible food waste rescued in Japan would be equivalent — or even surpass — the amount of annual global food aid.

As one of the most prosperous nations in the world, Japan risks underestimating its fragile food supply. To address the roots of hunger in Japan, solutions centered on domestic development rather than international food importing is crucial.

– Daniela Sarabia

Photo: Flickr

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Strides Made Toward Defeating Hunger in Pakistan

Hunger in Pakistan
Almost a quarter of the population in Pakistan goes to sleep hungry every night according to the latest Global Hunger Index released on Oct. 12, 2016.

While many Pakistani economists and commentators are pleased that the levels of hunger in Pakistan have been downgraded from “alarmist” to “serious,” conditions remain concerning.

The World Food Program estimates that six out of 10 Pakistanis are food insecure and almost half of women and children under 5 years of age are malnourished. The sad part is that food insecurity persists although food production is sufficient to feed all Pakistanis.

The problem stems from wrong priorities in terms of food crops throwing the nutritional balance completely out of kilter. Hunger in Pakistan isn’t as much a result of lack of food as it is of deficiencies in diet ranging from protein to iodine, along with other health problems due to insufficient intake of essential nutrients.

These have serious implications for economic growth and development. Thus, just three types of malnutrition are responsible for a loss of three to four percent of GDP in Pakistan in any given year, according to the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN) fifth report on the world nutrition situation.

In human terms, the impact of malnutrition is even more serious and gut-wrenching. Figures obtained from multiple governmental and non-governmental organizations by Pakistan’s newspaper The Express Tribune reveal that around 352,000 children who are under the age of five die every year in the country.

In addition, the country has the highest rate of first-day deaths and stillbirths at 40.7 per 1,000 births. What’s worse, 28,000 mothers die every year during childbirth, show reports prepared by the PDH Survey, the World Health Organization, Save the Children and United Nations’ Children Fund. More than 204,542 children died within the first 28 days, the figures show.

The PDH Survey 2006-07 says that Pakistani children are more likely to die young in rural areas. That’s because one of the major causes for poor nourishment is that women have little access to health services and education and consequently little nutritional knowledge while feeding their children. Of course, large family sizes are another reason for food shortages.

Agriculture is vital to the Pakistani economy since it employs almost half the workforce and contributes over a fifth of GDP. The answer to the chronic hunger in Pakistan then lies in finding a way to modernize the sector and increase productivity as well as improve the choice of crops.

– Mallika Khanna

Photo: Flickr

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Addressing Hunger in Burkina Faso is a Community Affair

Hunger in Burkina Faso
In Burkina Faso, over 29% of children under five years old suffer from stunting, which is a form of malnutrition and a direct result of hunger. This occurs due to a lack of nutritious foods in the womb and throughout their first few years of life. These children are more susceptible to disease, poor school performance and difficulties as they grow older.

Statistics on Hunger in Burkina Faso

  • Two-thirds of children suffering from undernutrition do not receive medical attention.
  • About 40% of infant deaths in Burkina Faso are linked to undernutrition.
  • Stunted children with a height deficiency, relevant to age, completes an average of 0.3 years less of education, than children who are not stunted.
  • Burkina Faso’s workforce has decreased by 13.6%. Infant mortality rates are associated with undernutrition.
  • On a national scale, only 11.4% of children under two-years-old receive the recommended number of daily meals.
  • Roughly 499,000 children, under five years old, suffer from acute malnutrition.
  • Even though food is accessible in local markets, chronic poverty and disasters reduce food availability. Over 1.5 million children are at risk of food insecurity, while 350,000 need emergency assistance.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is a prominent organization helping the country increase farming and food production techniques. Their program, called FASO, supplies a women’s group with locally fortified flour, specifically for infants, and helps them establish a distribution and marketing network. These local sources of nutrition improve the availability of food and expand the local economy.

In order to end malnutrition and hunger in Burkina Faso, increasing the supply and affordability isn’t sufficient. Burkina Faso’s communities will need to be taught proper health, nutrition and hygiene. CRS has helped establish care group leaders in villages to aid pregnant women and new mothers. These women encourage conventional breastfeeding, sustainable nutrition for infants and accessible health care for pregnant mothers and children roughly two-years-old, or younger.

To hold each other accountable for health improvement, community members tend to a scoreboard, which tracks the village’s progression of health achievements. The physical scoreboard captures the public’s health efforts and visually invokes competition for more successful results.

“Having the scoreboard reminds us there is still a problem to address. We’re still facing challenges. The scoreboard is our motivator and reminder. There are still women who don’t practice exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months. We need to work. Even if we can’t get rid of all the red [on the scoreboard], we can reduce it,” Tiga Ouedraogo, a health promoter, told CRS.

On top of improved access to safe drinking water and community sanitation, construction of facilities is important in reducing diarrhea and infections. Open defecation is common in many villages, where latrines, or toilets, are not present. People lack privacy, but they are also susceptible to snake bites, or other animals attacking them while using the bathroom. Rainy weather spreads this human waste, which heightens the susceptibility to disease.

Each year, hunger in Burkina Faso costs roughly $409 billion, which equates to 7.7% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). These costs riddle healthcare and education, which affects worker productivity. In 2014, roughly a quarter of Burkina Faso was deemed undernourished. However, the construction of at least 600 toilets has impacted 36 villages, and more than 16,500 people in 55 villages have potable water now. Progress is slowly being made with organizations, such as CRS, improving the health and hunger of Burkina Faso.

– Rachel Williams

Photo: Flickr